I just recently made this post on my blog, continuing my tradition of who are the most popular nominees of the Best Actress year, in a nutshell, who most people think deserved it the most(https://filmoscarsandmore.blogspot.com/2017/07/best-actress-overall-winners-part-6.html). This got me to thinking: What are the consensus opinions of the winners from the last 10 years or so, Cotillard to Stone? I think we’re all pretty clear that Halle Berry, Julia Roberts, Reese Witherspoon, Hillary Swank, ect are hated winners and Meryl in Sophie’s Choice, both of Vivien Leigh’s wins, and Swank’s first win are loved wins, and some of the winners I’m asking about are easy calls. But I’m wondering: What do you think are the general consensus about them? Love, hate, love it/hate it, or somewhere in between?

With the exceptions of Cotillard, who will be remembered as one of the category’s all-time greats, and Blanchett, who is very, very solid, all of the other women run a gamut from “adequate” to flotsam.

Winslet and Moore are always going to be dealing with a yin-yang issue of the universe being glad they’re Oscar winners/but why did it have to happen for such run-of-the-mill work?

Lawrence is going to suffer in a “you really had to be there” kind of way. Her narrative as an ascending meteor at the time of “Silver Linings Playbook” will be recalled most vividly by those who saw it take place (for fifteen minutes, the girl was virtually inescapable in every nook and cranny of pop culture-dom), but for future generations, her winning work is likely going to be seen much like the Audrey Hepburn win in “Roman Holiday” is typically assessed by the masses… Tough to deny the charisma on display, but is this really death-defying thespianship?

“SHE FINALLY GOT THE THIRD ONE!” will always drown out the applause/dissension over the Streep win. C’est la vie.

I’ll admit I’m more than a little chagrined at how durable the Portman win has proved to be over the past six years. I maintained at the time and still do maintain that I thought she was the weakest nominee in her lineup, but I suspect the formalistic erraticism of her vehicle will always touch a nerve in Oscar circles (to date, there’s nothing else quite like “Black Swan” in the Best Actress lineup), and make Portman look fetching. (I’m waiting for the masses to wake up and realize that 2010 saw Lawrence and Williams’s worthiest nominations [to date]).

Larson and Stone are still too soon to call, and the shapes of their future careers will have a lot to do with how their wins are seen in the future. For right now, though, I think Larson will probably hold up better in a non-passionate, muted-nod-of-general-approval kind of way (though I think Blanchett and Rampling will gain more appreciation for their nominated work as the years go by). Stone will suffer inevitable comparisons to other winning performances such as Streisand in “Funny Girl” and Minnelli in “Cabaret,” although if she can maintain career momentum, I think there will also be a general chorus of approval that she is an Oscar winner.

Bullock is going to “suffer” the most in terms of the prestige of her win. Virtually from the moment the Oscar was in her hand, she was being ranked with the Mary Pickfords and Loretta Youngs as being among the least deserving winners. Again: nobody’s going to mind her being an Oscar winner, but unlike Winslet and Moore, who at least make decent-ish cases as nominees, I think a lot of people will be scratching their heads in the future (as many are doing now) and wondering how “The Blind Side” ever got on Oscar’s radar. (Again, you had to be there, kids.)

Three were the best of the past ten years who earned their award, four were just okay that had other reasons for winning, and three were bad winners due to the simple demands of their roles and the competition that they beat. (Why they won in parentheses)

Marion Cotillard-Freaking Masterful
Kate Winslet-More Support, but Good
Sandra Bullock-WTF
Natalie Portman-Freaking Masterful Meryl Streep-It’s Meryl Streep, Meh JLO-I Honestly thought she was good in the film, I thought People were jumping on Riva because she won the Bafta and that she is some obscure foreign actress that High-class snobs considered her overdue Cate Blanchett-Freaking Masterful Julianne Moore-Meh Brie Larson-Good Emma Stone-Applies to Lawrence as well

Marion Cotillard – Excellent
Kate Winslet – Shit, should have won for ESOTSM
Sandra Bullock – Shit, Mulligan or Sidibe should have won.
Natalie Portman – Excellent
Meryl Streep – Good-ish, but quite a bit of soliloquies in this performance, and should have won years ago for TDWP while Mara or Davis won this one.
Jennifer Lawrence – Shit. Was thoroughly outacted by Cooper. Riva should have won easily.
Cate Blanchett – Excellent, but in recent weeks, Adele Excharchopoulos’ and Lea Seydoux’ works in Blue is the Warmest Colour grew on me to a point that if they were nominated, I would have really liked them as winners either one.
Julianne Moore – Okay, but a much better performance was robbed, and we all know which one I’m referring to.
Brie Larson – Okay-ish, but ALOT of histrionics made her look desperate for awards attention.
Emma Stone – Shit. Portman was fucking robbed.

Marion Cotillard – Excellent
Kate Winslet – Shit, should have won for ESOTSM
Sandra Bullock – Shit, Mulligan or Sidibe should have won.
Natalie Portman – Excellent
Meryl Streep – Good-ish, but quite a bit of soliloquies in this performance, and should have won years ago for TDWP while Mara or Davis won this one.
Jennifer Lawrence – Shit. Was thoroughly outacted by Cooper. Riva should have won easily.
Cate Blanchett – Excellent, but in recent weeks, Adele Excharchopoulos’ and Lea Seydoux’ works in Blue is the Warmest Colour grew on me to a point that if they were nominated, I would have really liked them as winners either one.
Julianne Moore – Okay, but a much better performance was robbed, and we all know which one I’m referring to.
Brie Larson – Okay-ish, but ALOT of histrionics made her look desperate for awards attention.
Emma Stone – Shit. Portman was fucking robbed.

I love pretty much all these actresses so I’ll comment on whether or not they deserved the wins here for their specific performances.

Marion Cotillard: I sadly still haven’t seen La Vie En Rose, so I can’t say, but when I was watching the ceremony that year, I assumed Ellen Page would win for Juno because so many critics had the film among their best of 2007; Roger Ebert had it at #1.

Kate Winslet: Her win here was deserving, although ideally it should have been her second win. I think she should have won her first for Titanic over Helent Hunt in As Good As It Gets.

Sandra Bullock: I’ll defend her win here. A lot of people hate for winning this, but looking at the competition that year, Bullock to me owned her film more than the other nominees that year.

Natalie Portman: Easily one of the best Best Actress wins of the 21st century. Holy moly, this was a transcendent performance!!

Meryl Streep: She truly embodied Margaret Thatcher in an only okay movie, but Viola Davis was a revelation in The Help and should have won.

Jennifer Lawrence: Many of my friends defend her win here because they adore Silver Linings Playbook to death. I however, see many flaws in the film, mainly David O. Russell’s over-the-top directing, which made its way into the performance. Jessica Chastain was way more grounded in her performance in Zero Dark Thirty and should have won.

Cate Blanchett: Phenomenal performance, but the movie ended on a cliffhanger and didn’t give her character a definitive, final ending. Sandra Bullock though, she was the movie Gravity, and she should have won.

Julianne Moore: Phenomenal performance and truly well-deserved of its win.

Brie Larson: Phenomenal performance and another well-deserved win.

Emma Stone: I adored La La Land and this is Stone’s greatest performance, but Natalie Portman was once again transcendent in Jackie. She literally became Jackie Kennedy. I did not see Natalie Portman there.

Marion Cotillard: Great
Kate Winslet: Great
Sandra Bullock: Awful (Would have given to Carey Mulligan but really anyone)
Natalie Portman: Great
Meryl Streep: Great
Jennifer Lawrence: Good (Would have given to Naomi Watts)
Cate Blanchett: Great (Would have marginally given to Emma Thompson)
Julianne Moore: Average (Any of Aniston, Pike or Blunt should have had this)
Brie Larson: Average (This was Maggie Smith’s year. Blanchett and Mulligan were also superior)
Emma Stone: Good (Would have given to Portman or Blunt but don’t begrudge)

Marion Cotillard: Excellent and deserved. No complaints.Kate Winslet: Blah win via rather weak year. Would have preferred HathawaySandra Bullock: It wasn’t even that bad of a performance but as a Best Actress win it was nigh indefensible. Would have preferred Mulligan/Sidibe.Natalie Portman: I know this is a GD golden cow but I’m an Aronofsky hater so I can only rate it so high. Plus the category also had two performances I liked better in Lawrence and Williams.Meryl Streep: Pretty good role, but I preferred Mara.Jennifer Lawrence: Suffered massive hype backlash along with Lawrence herself. Preferred Riva or Watts. But it’s not the Satan win it’s made out to be.Cate Blanchett: No complaints with the win but I preferred goddess Exarchopoulos. Oh that’s right, she wasn’t even nominated. Fuck the Academy. So with the nominees as it stands, deserved.Julianne Moore: I agree it was a makeup win. I preferred Pike to win 100% more, and on a lesser note Cotillard, who made a story about a woman trying not to get fired into a revelation.Brie Larson: I didn’t really agree that this was the performance that deserved to have dominated the awards circuit but OK. I liked the film and she was good in the role but my girl Saoirse was slept on as usual, and Rampling was excellent in 45 Years.Emma Stone: Nothing to be said here that hasn’t been said on these forums.